Hanso-Dutch War
| date | 1438 to 1441 |
|---|---|
| place | North Sea , Oresund |
| output | Not a military decision |
| consequences | End of the Hanseatic monopoly in the Baltic Sea region |
| Peace treaty | Peace of Copenhagen |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
|
Philip the Good
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The Hanseatic -Dutch War from 1438 to 1441 was a war between the Hanseatic League of Cities and the County of Holland .
prehistory
The Dutch merchants in the Baltic Sea area bypassed the Hanseatic stacking bids as far as possible and sought the direct route to consumers and producers as drivers from the surrounding area . This procedure undermined the Hanseatic intermediate trade monopoly and caused corresponding financial losses.
The first incident occurred in 1422 when a squadron from the Wendish cities penetrated the Sound and made Dutch herring catchers unable to maneuver there. The reason given was that the Danish king could charter the vehicles for the fight against the Hanseatic League.
In the following years the Dutch were able to expand their position in the Baltic Sea region. The Hanseatic League reacted with restrictive measures. In 1436 the Wendish cities forbade their ships to sail to Holland and Flanders . There was diplomatic activity with lively correspondence, but without result. At the corresponding peace negotiations in Deventer in 1437 , Lübeck was represented by councilor Jakob Bramstede .
On April 7, 1438, Duke Philip the Good allowed the Dutch to pirate the six Wendish cities ( Hamburg , Lübeck , Lüneburg , Greifswald , Stettin and Anklam ) and the Duke of Holstein .
On April 23, 1438, the Hanseatic League informed its cities of an impending war with Holland and called for shipping to Flanders, Holland and Zealand to be stopped .
Course of war
Holland was not yet strong enough at sea to fight openly with the Hanseatic League and had to limit itself to privateers. On the other hand, the Wendish cities were left to their own devices, because despite repeated requests from Lübeck, the other Hanseatic cities did not take part in the fighting.
The efforts of the duke, council and knighthood of Holland and Zealand made it possible that already on June 22nd, 1438 a pirate fleet consisting of 54 large and 50 small ships under Hendrik van Borsselen could leave Rotterdam . Although he had promised safe conduct to the Hanseatic cities that had remained neutral on the outward journey, he surprisingly attacked a Prussian Baiens salt fleet near Brest and brought in 23 Prussian and Livonian ships. The eleven ships of the Wendish cities located there had withdrawn into port in good time when the pirate fleet appeared.
The neutral Hanseatic cities filed claims for damages, but despite their outrage, they did not join the war in the Wendish cities led by Lübeck. Rather, they arrested their goods in Prussia out of displeasure about the blocking measures of the Wendish cities in the Sound .
After the ice age, both sides started the pirate war in the spring of 1439. The focus was on the Sund Passage, where both the conduct of the company's own merchant ships was ensured and the aim was to arrest enemy ships.
At this time, Christoph , the future ruler of the three northern kingdoms, arrived in Lübeck. He won the support of the Wendish cities by undertaking, among other things, to take action against Holland, to abolish the sound tariff and to confirm the privileges of the estates. In return, Christoph's rival Erich von Pommern offered the Dutch and Philip the Good an alliance to return to the Danish throne.
When fighting resumed in the spring of 1440, a Dutch fleet appeared, but Christoph had previously managed to defeat his opponent with the help of a Hanseatic fleet. The Dutch fleet was anchored at Marstrand , but was warned in good time and was able to save itself by retreating.
After Christoph had secured his throne, he moved more and more away from the Hanseatic League and increasingly favored the Dutch. The pirate war continued on both sides until the end of the war.
Peace treaty
The Hanso-Dutch War ended with the Peace of Copenhagen . The ten-year contract was signed in Copenhagen in 1441 by the Hanseatic cities under the leadership of Lübeck councilor and later Lübeck mayor Johann Lüneburg and the Dutch.
In the contract, the Dutch cities undertook to replace or return 22 ships from the Prussian and Livonian Hanseatic cities. The Dutch continued to pay 5,000 guilders to King Christopher III. of Denmark and pledged to the Wendish cities of the Hanseatic League to compensate for all this damage. On the other hand, the Wendish cities had to allow the Dutch mutual freedom of movement and lift all restrictive measures. This undermined the Hanseatic monopoly in the Baltic region.
literature
- Konrad Fritze / Günter Krause: Sea Wars of the Hanseatic League . Military publishing house of the GDR, Berlin 1989, ISBN 3-926642-02-5